Rooster and sons...question

[Egg Rookie 2010]

Wyatt Earp is my lovely Cochin roo. (I give him lots of respect and even more distance) He threw some nice babies and I think 2 are little roo Jrs. I plan to build a new coop in the spring right next door to this one-sharing a common fence in the runs. Do you think I can keep one of his boys for the next door roo come like...mid to late March or will they be scuffling by then? Ill make a early Feb chick order. Also can I have a common fence or will they fight through the fence? It would save so much work to use these sames posts....Oh the little roos are now 1 month old.

 

[taprock]

When we hatched out our last batch we had 4 roos out of 7. They were only separated from the flock as chicks. We had them until they were about 5 months old. They all got along and because they grew up with their papa as head rooster there was no fighting. I don't know if they would have started as they got older or not. Right now I have 8 roos and their is very little fighting as they have already established a pecking order.

 

[centrarchid]

You have about 5 months before worry time starts. Odds of roosters fighting through fence is a function of breed and circumstances. My dominiques are not prone to fight if seperated by more than four inches but other breeds are not so easy to obstruct. Fighting through fencing is a particularly nasty thing that can cause loss of both birds or at least serious damage that will not fully heal. For peace of mind I would place a board or piece of plywood so that it obstructs visual contact when birds standing at fence. That will enable using a common barrier that does not require redundant posts.

 

[Egg Rookie 2010]

Good idea on the plywood thanks. I have a mid way stringer about 36 inches up. do you think a 3 foot tall barrier the length of the fence would be sufficient?

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
That`s the way it`s done. I used to raise a lot of gamefowl. I put all the juvies in a big pen with an old cock to police them. The idea was that if anyone was gonna whip butt, it was gonna be the old guy. I usually could get them up to 7-8 months before they started killing each other. Of course there were always exceptions........Pop

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
My rule of thumb is that if they have to jump up to see each other, then they will not fight. For most breeds, a 24" tall barrier will suffice but more is good insurance.